What She Knew (But Didn't Need to)

What She Knew
Gilly MacMillan

​Reeder Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Rachel is a newly divorced mother coming to terms with the direction of her life when her 8-year-old son Ben is abducted while they are walking his dog in the woods. The book follows the police search and investigation as it tries to hone in on possible suspects, and tracks Rachel's persecution by public opinion and the toll everything takes on her psyche.

The premise of this book pulled me in, but its actual execution was lacking for me. Too many times it felt as if moments that would've made for truly engaging conflict were missed, so that the reaction and reality were too disproportionate. When someone vandalizes Rachel's house, she has a breakdown because of the horribleness of what it says...which turns out to be "Bad Mother." A police secretary faints over an item that arrives in the mail, and the author makes a point of how terrible this item must be as this woman has handled crime scene photos and has seen terrible things often. It turns out to be a mildly threatening letter directed at Ben's father, not a severed finger or other such body part which is where my mind went with the level of build up beforehand.

I also found the prolouge completely unnecessary and anti-climactic for the story and the epilogue shouldn't have been called that, as it was 22 pages long. I let with this one simply because I'm stubborn and I'd borrowed it from the library and didn't want to feel checking it out had been a waste of time.

So, overall, it had potential but never quite grabbed ahold of me. I'd say you can live without finding out What She Knew, and hopefully my next pick will be one worthy of the beach!

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